As generally known in the art, a plasma display panel (PDP) is a display device having a front glass substrate and a rear glass substrate between which a discharge space is formed, so that plasma discharge may be generated in the discharge space, thereby causing phosphors in the discharge space to be excited and emit light, so as to display a screen.
PDPs may be classified into direct current plasma display panels (DC PDPs) and alternating current plasma display panels (AC PDPs), from among which the AC PDPs are the mainstream. U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,344, assigned to Fujitsu co., Ltd., discloses a three-electrode surface-discharge alternating-current plasma display panel which is one of the representative AC PDPs.
A PDP includes a front plate and a rear plate assembled in parallel with each other. The front plate includes a front glass substrate, transparent electrodes formed on a lower surface of the front glass substrate, each of the transparent electrodes including a scan electrode and a sustain electrode, bus electrodes formed on lower surfaces of the transparent electrodes so as to reduce resistance of the transparent electrodes, a dielectric layer covering the transparent electrodes and the bus electrodes, and a magnesium oxide layer formed on a lower surface of the dielectric layer so as to prevent sputtering of the dielectric layer and facilitate discharge of secondary electrons. Further, the rear plate includes a rear glass substrate, address electrodes, a dielectric layer, barrier ribs for forming discharge compartments between the front and rear plates, and phosphorous layers.
In general, a rear plate of a PDP as described above is manufactured by sand blasting similar to a method of forming a thick film pattern on a substrate of a PDP, which is disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. P5-128966.
The conventional rear plate manufactured using the sand blasting as described above has the following shortcomings.
First, in the sand blasting method as described above, barrier ribs are preliminary formed in a shape of patterns, and are then baked. As a result, while the barrier ribs are baked, the barrier ribs may be distorted and deformed. Therefore, it is difficult to exactly locate each electrode on a central position between two barrier ribs, which is a desired position for each electrode.
Second, in the sand blasting, SiO2 or CaCO3 is sprayed onto a barrier rib layer by compressed air or a centrifugal force, to form the barrier ribs. However, when each of the barrier ribs has a width of smaller than 60 μm, the barrier ribs may collapse.
Third, the conventional PDP having a front plate and a rear plate attached to each other has deteriorated electric and optical characteristics.